SAVANNAH, Ga (WSAV) – Every year, our community partners with Senior Citizens Inc. to help everyone keep their cool. The annual fan drive officially kicked off today.
“We’re just trying to get ahead of the heat game here cause we know, tomorrow it could be a hundred degrees,” says SCI president Patti Lyons.
It may be a couple of days before the official first day of summer, but the heat is already here.
“It became very apparent in the summer that a lot of our folks don’t have air conditioning,” says Lyons talking about how the nonprofit’s in-home food assistance program led them to beginning the food drive.
In Wesley Bradwell’s case, he had broken air conditioning.
“My AC went out on me last week and I suffered for three days, I didn’t have no air conditioning,” says Bradwell.
He heard from a neighbor about the fan drive, now he has a backup for if it goes out again.
“I’m telling you I couldn’t sleep all night, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t rest because I was uncomfortable,” Bradwell adds.
Senior Citizens Inc has donated fans to seniors in need for ten years now. They’ve partnered with The Home Depot and Sea Island Bank gathering more than two hundred fans to start off the drive.
“We will be giving away fans as long as we have them, last year we gave away more than six hundred fans and we ran out,” Lyons says.
SCI first saw the need for the fans through the services they did with their home feeding program. They’re off to a strong start, but they know more donations and help will be needed to keep seniors cool as the summer starts.
“I’m just happy that to know that they do this for seniors from time to time because for my situation I really just needed some cool air,” says Bradwell.
You can follow several of the above links to learn more about the nonprofit or the fan drive. Here’s a look at their social media for updates on the drive.
